Norman Beedie - Music for Solo Piano & Piano Duet - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Loadbang releases their fourth album on New Focus, this time featuring centerpieces by Heather Stebbins and Chaya Czernowin as well as music by ensemble members Jeffrey Gavett and Andy Kozar. New York City-based new music chamber group loadbang is building a new kind of music for mixed ensemble of trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet, and baritone voice. Since their founding in 2008, they have been praised as 'cultivated' by The New Yorker, 'an extra-cool new music group' and 'exhilarating' by the Baltimore Sun, 'inventive' by the New York Times and called a 'formidable new-music force' by TimeOutNY. Creating 'a sonic world unlike any other' (The Boston Musical Intelligencer), their unique lung-powered instrumentation has provoked diverse responses from composers, resulting in a repertoire comprising an inclusive picture of composition today. In New York City, they have been recently presented by and performed at Miller Theater, Symphony Space, MATA, and by the Look and Listen Festival; on American tours at Da Camera of Houston, Rothko Chapel, and the Festival of New American Music at Sacramento State University; and internationally at Ostrava Days (Czech Republic), China-ASEAN Music Week (China), the Xinghai Conservatory of Music (China), Shanghai Symphony Hall (China), and the Musikverein (Vienna, Austria).

The piano was Lennox Berkeley's own instrument and his piano works represent a microcosm of his very best compositional talents. Influenced harmonically by French models, his music is suffused with lyricism and subtle harmonies. The Sonata, Op. 20 possesses a particularly haunting beauty in it's slow movement, while simple but distinctive melodic and rhythmic ideas permeate the Six Preludes, Op. 23 and Five Short Pieces, Op. 4. The Theme and Variations, Op. 73, recorded here for the first time, offers a favorite Berkeley vehicle for conveying a highly individual and personal language.

It is a journey that the pianist invites the listener to embark on, writes Alain Drouot, jazz journalist from Chicago. Revealing a panorama of uncharted territories, the opener InchYumeInch suggests that it will be well worth the trip. Swiss pianist Stefan Aeby's first solo piano recording is the product of three and a half years of incubation and shows an understanding of what can be accomplished when taking advantage of a studio setting. Whether composed or improvised, the pieces all have a common denominator. All sounds come from the acoustic piano, but they can be distorted or modified through preparation, inserting all kinds of materials inside the instrument, and/or some processing via various electronic devices. This brings out one of Aeby's main traits his attention to detail. If making a distinctive statement and being forward-looking are at the forefront of Aeby's concerns, he does not forget the tradition as witnessed by his thoughtful re-harmonization of Erroll Garner's InchMistyInch that he complements with unobtrusive electronic flourishes.